4 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 



Arkansa. Poor Bill Bent ! them Spaniards made meat 

 of him. He lost his topknot to Taos. A ' clever' man 

 was Bill Bent as / ever know'd trade a robe or ' throw' 

 a bufler in his tracks. Old St Vrain could knock the 

 hind-sight off him though, when it came to shootin. and 

 old Silverheels spoke true, she did : ' plumcenter' she 

 was, eh ?" 



" Well, she wasn't nothin else." 



" The Greasers* payed for Bent's scalp, they tell me. 

 Old St Vrain went out of Santa Fe with a company of 

 mountain-men, and the way they made 'em sing out 

 was ' slick as shootin.' He ' counted a coup/ did St 

 Vrain. He throwed a Pueblo as had on poor Bent's 

 shirt. I guess he tickled that niggur's hump-ribs. 

 Fort William t aint the lodge it was, an' never will be 

 agin, now he's gone under; but St Vrain's ' pretty 

 much of a gentleman/ too ; if he aint, I'll be dog-gone, 

 eh, Bill ?" 



" He is so-o." 



"Chavez had his waggons along. He was only a 

 Spaniard any how, and some of his teamsters put a ball 

 into him his next trip, and made a raise of his dollars, 

 wagh ! Uncle Sam hung 'em for it, I heard, but can't 

 b'lieve it, nohow. If them Spaniards wasn't born for 

 shootin', why was beaver made ? You was with us that 

 spree, Jemmy?" 



" No sirre-e ; I went out when Spiers lost his animals 



* The Mexicans are called " Spaniards" or " Greasers" (from 

 their greasy appearance) by the Western people, 

 t Bent's Indian trading fort on the Arkansa. 



